Subsurface Biogeochemical Research
Project Title:
Using Regional Climate Models to Quantify Water Delivery to the Critical Zone
Project Overview:
We seek to quantify the timing and magnitude of water delivery to the critical zone in the complex terrain of Colorado’s East River watershed. The critical zone is the thin layer of the earth, between the bedrock and the tops of the trees, where all of Earth’s biogeochemical reactions take place. We are using a high resolution, convection permitting configuration of the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model to create dynamically downscaled quantitative estimates of precipitation (both rain and snow) for a thirty year period. Estimates of precipitation in complex terrain are inhibited by limited observational capacity and large spatial variability of precipitation. This novel dataset will inform fundamental understandings of watershed function and CZ processes.
Funding:
Department of Energy
Key Collaborators:
- Rosemary Carroll (Desert Research Institute)
Lab Participants:
- Will Rudisill
- Caroline Nash
Scientific Impacts
- Novel estimates of mountainous precipitation across Colorado
- A thirty year dataset of spatially and temporally continuous meteorological forcings
Tools
This research/projects employs the WRF (Weather Research and Forecasting) Regional Climate Model and the NoahMP Land Surface Model.